My DMP diary - 2026 (year 1)

Rhyddid2026

Just popped in to say - non-evergreen climber so I have light overwinter and shade in summer - I have 2 clematis on a trellis that do that. They took a few years to properly establish and grow in abundance but worth a look. You can get some that flower at different times too, so you'll have flowers from late spring to autumn if you're lucky.

ArtyJ931

oooh yes thank you! The garden is currently a mud pit as it has taken 3 y to remove a major structure and clear it. But getting there and a deck with pergola is the plan for the sunniest bit of the garden. Clematis sounds lovely and ideal!

ArtyJ931

Week 15 check in

I can't believe it's been 15 weeks already. Firstly.

Debt things:

• 3 emails - generic
• A couple of letters - requests to pay arrears
• Confirmation of information received regarding latest affordability complaint to the FOS
• Thassit.

Other money things

• Realised I forgot to switch house insurance bank account so the DD bounced and they've charged me £25 for the pleasure. Paid to get up to date and called to change bank details. Annoying but c'est la vie.
• Went over budget by £20 as I owed lunch and a coffee to a colleague and had to settle up!
• Have a long journey next week and got half a tank of diesel to cover me which came to £50. I'm cycling a lot more now to save fuel costs and having to put fuel in the car is PAINFUL. My car is 16yo and a diesel 1.5 - does 50ish MPG which isn't bad. Shame a gallon is so extortionate.

Other MSE things

• borrowed an angle grinder and did some eyebrow raising and potentially dangerous DIYing to save some dolla and it actually worked and no limbs were cut off. Hooray!

Chocolatefund

You're doing great on the debt journey, keep it up.

I borrowed a circular saw once. DIY'd the skirting board in my living/dining room…which involved two fireplaces, and two bay windows. No wall was straight. NEVER AGAIN.

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056469#Comment_82056469

every time I try to do anything diy something goes majorly awry and it’s 10x the expected work at least! Every time I think never again and then… try again lol

Baileys_Babe

We borrowed an angle grinder recently it helped tremendously with the DIY we were doing.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82056469#Comment_82056469

I'm impressed, that must of been horrendous. Our house is about 250 years old, none of the walls are straight and no corner is 90°c, we have one room with no skirting board, one day we might decide to conquer the quirks of this room and fit one.

ArtyJ931

Week 16 check in(!!!)

Time is flying.

Debt things

• Quite a lot of emails and a phone call with the investigator at the FOS clarifying things and I also had to send more statements and give some more information. This was about the most recent affordability claim.
• Managed to get the new investigator to set me up on the FOS online portal thingy so I could see the process of my claims. I have 4 claims. Strangely the 2 that were the oldest and who I spoke with an investigator about at the end of May seem to be not even allocated to anybody yet so I'm very confused about what is happening there.
• One solitary letter advising of a £7 charge added to my account.

Money things

• My current system of pots and weekly allowance is working very well HOWEVER I have decided I need to rejig it after I had to buy a new pair of trainers as my old ones were worn out and the new pair cost £75. This is too much out of my weekly pot so I'm going to start a new 'clothing' pot for these sort of one offs. I usually buy clothes on vinted so it keeps cost down a bit but I still need to prepare for this.
• Have used the house pot to buy two mature spiky hedging plants to add security to the rear boundary which is vulnerable. Have also picked up a new handrail for the stairs second hand for £10 including fixings so I'm pleased with that.

Other things

• Once again I am thanking all the gods that I have a portable air con unit. Surviving this heat is no joke.

ArtyJ931

Week 20 check in

Not checked in for a few weeks so thought I'd do a quick round up of what's happened in the last few weeks

Debt things

• Had a fair number of letters including default notices. Having checked my transunion credit score none of those are actually defaulted yet so I am filing but ignoring the letters.
• One of my affordability complaints has not been upheld by the investigator. I have rejected their finding and escalated to the ombudsman. Strangely they agreed that insufficient checks had been completed but thought that if they had been completed it probably would have shown the debt as affordable but haven't explained how they reached that conclusion.
• Another affordability complaint at the ombudsman requested a few bits of info so I have sent that.
• That is literally it. 5 months in and not a lot has happened.

Other things

• Not a lot to report really. Going on as before. I have put my growing emergency fund into PBs so I can have the thrill of the possibility of a big win every month without spending anything.
• Considering what consititutes a reasonable EF. I saw someone say 3-6 months of income and nearly spat my tea out. That seems like a huge amount.
• Also considering a white goods/ car replacement pot as someone said on here that these are not emergencies they are wholly predictable future expenses. So that's something to consider when I'm revising my pots.
• Had to see an osteopath to sort out a neck strain recently which wiped out my healthcare pot and then immediately snapped my varifocal glasses so replacements will have to come out of the emergency fund. Annoying. But c'est la vie I guess while I'm still building pots.

Baileys_Babe

You are still building pots, but you had the money available, so celebrate 🎉

Pots for car and white goods replacement makes sense, like as you say these are inevitable.

Regarding the emergency fund, ask yourself some questions like when in the future would you see yourself using it? Is everything expected covered by saving pots? If you lost your job what would happen to your finances? Whatever your answers and however much you feel should be in your EF making regular payments into it will put you in a much better position if the SHTF than if you don't.

ArtyJ931

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82093325#Comment_82093325

I know - it was so lovely to have the money in the pot when I needed it!

I’m going to redo my SOA, budget and reorganise pots soon (yeehaw) I’m enjoying this learning curve.

it’s difficult to know re- EF. My job is very secure and I can’t imagine losing it. I guess if I became unable to work for some reason… but then no amount of EF would help.